The Place Shaper Kit
Victorian Planning Authority
The Place Shaper Kit (the PSK) is an original collaboration and engagement tool developed by the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) to provide a new and innovative way in engaging with stakeholders on spatial plans. The PSK is inspired from a “city building” style board game and is made up of various interchangeable elements: clear perspex boards that are overlayed on base plan maps, chalk pens and chips that are numbered or show icons. Activity sheets guide questions to direct the flow of activities and the pens, chips and icons are used to reflect the planning decision, which is then built upon in the next activity to communicate layered complex options. The PSK is utilised at in-person workshops with a table facilitator guiding proceedings and a table scribe taking notes.
The VPA are to be commended on developing the PSK, rather than relying on existing or traditional approaches to engagement and collaboration. The Judges found that by adopting ‘gaming’ principles, the PSK captures the imagination of participants and facilitates an integrated place-based response. It allows participants to contribute in a visual and tactile way, showing realistically how trade-offs and consequence of land use decisions can be made. Importantly, the PSK also distils very complex planning and land use concepts in a way that ensures that anyone can participate. The PSK is a memorable method that builds trust amongst participants and can be flexibility adapted to different scales of projects and numbers of participants. The PSK was well received by participants, who noted that it was fun and interactive.
The judges noted a key opportunity for the VPA is to showcase this method to encourage adapting the PSK for different strategic plans and in different forums.